Pretoria – African National Congress (ANC) head of elections, Fikile Mbalula, said on Thursday that the people who were working to undermine the party president Cyril Ramaphosa would not succeed.

"The president’s position is safe in the party. The president’s position is not under threat in any way. One hundred percent ANC members are behind the president, but I cannot account for dark forces who will make an attempt on Ramaphosa for one reason or another.

"The ANC is determined to consolidate its unity," Mbalula said.

"If we don’t do that, because even our own internal polling tells us that if we don’t look at the ANC’s unity and we are concerned about ourselves and our squabbles, our people walk away and turn off. We can’t let them down, we just need to stick to what is right and what needs to be done."

This as reports have been emerging during the election campaign that some ANC leaders were secretly holding meetings to plot to oust Ramaphosa.

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ANC head of elections Fikile Mbalula, speaking at the IEC national results centre in Pretoria, said that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s position was safe within the party. VIDEO: Siphelele Dludla / African News Agency (ANA)

Mbalula also confirmed that the ruling party was going to cut the number of Cabinet members as Ramaphosa had announced in his State of the Nation Address in February.

"It’s not a promise, it’s what we are going to do. The president announced and the NEC will finalise its proposal about the size of Cabinet. There has been a case study that has been looked at, so the ANC will look into that," he said.

"Cabinet will be cut down, and it’s not a promise, it’s not fiction, it is going to happen."

Mbalula said that the party was humbled by the overwhelming support it was receiving at the polls as its support stood at more than 5.4 million votes counted so far, scoring the party a comfortable 56 percent.

"If you understand where we come from in terms of the image of the ANC and perceptions of our party which affected us negatively, if anyone of us don’t see the impact of the things that happened probably yesteryear on the ANC, let them look at the board," he said.